1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatuses, and products for optimizing computer hardware usage in a computing system that includes a plurality of populated central processing unit (‘CPU’) sockets.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern computing systems may include a plurality of computer processors such as a plurality of CPUs. Each CPU can be included in a CPU socket. In some computing systems, one or more of the CPUs may not be active as the CPU, one or more CPUs may serve as a failover CPU rather than the primary boot CPU, or the computing system may be otherwise configured such that all of the CPUs are not utilized. The CPUs that are chosen to be active in a multi-socket system are frequently based on a sequential socket identifier assignment. For example, the CPUs in socket 0, socket 1, socket 2, and socket 3 may be active while CPUs in socket 4 and socket 5 may be inactive. Furthermore, the CPU that will be used to boot the computing system may also be designated based on the socket identifier, such that the CPU in socket 0 will be utilized to boot the computing system. In such a way, the designation of a socket identifier is used to identify active CPUs and a boot CPU, with no consideration given to the relative performance capabilities of an individual CPU or a particular combination of CPUs.